Advertisement

Advertisement

NASA is sending a 3D printer and a fire starter to the ISS

NASA creates with one hand and destroys with the other. The next supply ship for the International Space Station, scheduled to launch on 22 March, carries an advanced 3D printer and a test of how fire spreads in a spacecraft.

The uncrewed Cygnus craft will loft the Additive Manufacturing Facility, an upgraded version of the 3D printer already in use on the station. NASA will use the printer to make objects in orbit, since launching anything to the ISS is expensive and you have to wait for room on a spacecraft, while plans for objects to be 3D printed can simply be emailed.

Also launching is NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Experiment. Once Cygnus has been unloaded at the ISS, it will be stuffed full of waste and sent to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. On the way, NASA researchers will start a fire inside and watch how it behaves. It will be the largest human-made fire ever created in space, and seeing how it spreads will help design safety features for spacecraft.